The 1970’s came on the heels of one of the most progressive decades in history, so some kind of backlash was to be expected. Dino Valenti’s message of “love one another right now” faded into distant memory as fear, conflict and violence dominated public consciousness. I look at the history of the era and it seems to me that everyone was pissed off about something: inflation, busing, Nixon, Carter, wars, blackouts, psychotic serial killers, terrorists, free agency in baseball, OPEC . . . you name it. Given all the bad vibes, it’s no wonder that 70’s people would find comfort in take-no-prisoners-just-kill-them-all heroes like Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson, and seek serenity in the mindless superficiality of K. C. and the Sunshine Band.

Glad I missed it!

The diversity of music in the 60’s hardened into fragmentation in the 70’s. In the 60’s rock was a very broad and encompassing field. In the 70’s, the nit-pickers and marketing gurus split rock into sub-genres (hard rock, classic rock, progressive, metal, glam, punk, new wave), and the average fan began to identify with a single genre that suited the image he or she wanted to project to the world. Strong identification with any belief tends to generate dogmatism, a tendency best demonstrated by the war between punks and progressives. While sub-genres would eventually become musical cul-de-sacs, in the 70’s they had a clarifying effect that led to a pretty good decade for popular music.

Links to 70’s reviews can be found in the chronological list below. You’ll find reviews of The Stones, Jethro Tull, The Kinks, The Who, The Moody Blues, David Bowie and The Clash in the menu bar above.

• Alan Hull – Pipedream
• Alex Chilton – Like Flies on Sherbert
• Bad Company – Bad Company
• Bill Withers – Bill Withers at Carnegie Hall
• Blondie – Parallel Lines
• Cheap Trick – Heaven Tonight
• Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks – Where’s the Money?
• Devo – Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
• Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True
• Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer – Trilogy
• Fleetwood Mac – Future Games
• Françoise Hardy – La Question
• Genesis – Nursery Cryme
• Jimmy Buffett – Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
• Lou Reed – Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Maddy Prior and June Tabor – Silly Sisters
• Marianne Faithfull – Broken English
• Mott the Hoople – All the Young Dudes
• Neil Young – After the Gold Rush
• New York Dolls – New York Dolls
• Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
• Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
• Pink Floyd – Animals
• Pretty Things – Parachute
• Queen – A Night at the Opera
• Queen – News of the World
• Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a Story
• Spirit – 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
• Steeleye Span -Below the Salt
• Steely Dan – Aja
• Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic
• Steely Dan –Can’t Buy a Thrill
• Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
• Supertramp – Breakfast in America
• T. Rex – Electric Warrior
• The Allman Brothers – Brothers and Sisters
• The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East
• The Cars – The Cars
• The Electric Light Orchestra – No Answer
• The Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead
• The J. Geils Band – “Live” Full House
• The Jam – All Mod Cons
• The Move – Message from the Country
• The Move – Shazam
• The Ramones – Rocket to Russia
• The Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks
• The Stooges – Fun House
• Traffic – John Barleycorn Must Die
• Traffic – The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys
• Van Morrison – Moondance
• Wishbone Ash – Argus
• Yes – The Yes Album